


what the rain washes away

by forestpenguin



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: (surprise), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, F/M, Minor Chirrut Îmwe/Baze Malbus, Shooting Guns, Snapshots, food is love food is life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-03-09 10:36:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13479726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forestpenguin/pseuds/forestpenguin
Summary: what makes one fall for the man responsible for their father’s death?(time, trust,and most importantly - thetruth)





	1. rain, rain

**Author's Note:**

> a lawyer and a case that gets personal.
> 
>  
> 
> [moodboard.](https://forestpenguin.tumblr.com/post/169900277650/what-the-rain-washes-away-rebelcaptain-modern-au)

Rain splashes incessantly against the windshield.

Despite the relentless _swoosh-swoosh_ of the wipers, Galen strains to see between the rivulets of water. They reach a red light and he sighs as the car gently rolls to a stop. His gaze strays from the road to his estranged daughter in the passenger seat. Her face is turned away from him, towards the blue-grey world outside.

"I'm sorry," he says to the back of her head, "for everything."

His voice is barely louder than the droning buzz of the radio.

Jyn turns from the rain dappled window to study her father's expression with wary green eyes. Her gaze flickers over the deep worry lines riddling his face, falling to the grey stubble dusting his jawline. Streaks of the same pale grey glint in his long hair as he averts his eyes.

She doubts she'll ever get used to seeing him like this.

"You don't have to forgive me," he adds, just as the lights turn green. "I just wanted you to know."

For a few heartbeats the only sounds are the wipers, the rain, the radio, and the splashing of tires rolling through puddles. Then Jyn responds.

"I know."

He hesitantly shoots a brief glance her way, but Jyn's already turned back to the window. Galen eases the car through a right turn into a residential neighbourhood. The neatly lined houses blur, their identical faces only differentiated by slight variations of a neutral colour palette. Jyn vaguely remembers a time when she lived in a house like one of these. With her mother and the man beside her.

Now, her home - if she could call it that - is a dingy apartment with just enough room for one, her ghosts, and the occasional feline visitor.

The neighbourhood subtly shifts in mood as the spaces of bright greens between houses shrink smaller and smaller until Galen pulls to the curb in an area with crowded townhouses just as streetlights lazily blink to life.

Jyn unbuckles her belt as Galen reaches to shift the gear into park. He shoots her a look on the brink of disapproval, but by the time she glances at him his attention is elsewhere, expression indifferent. She pulls her coat snugly around her and pulls on the door handle.

With the click of the door the muffled sound of rain grows to buffet her senses. The sun is nowhere in sight - it had been raining intermittently all day, but they've arrived at Cassian's house in the murky grey hour around autumn sunset.

Jyn's acutely aware of the rain splashing on the sidewalk, forming miniature rivers that plummet into the storm drains. She pulls up the hood of her jacket just as the rain picks up in speed and force, falling in thick sheets. Curtains shift against the windows and a moment later a shadow materializes against the glass panel of the lawyer's front door.

The man himself steps out, a navy blue umbrella bursting to life above his head as he picks his way down the concrete steps and walkway. Jyn registers the sound of the driver's door falling shut, the ahem of her father clearing his throat. She doesn't look back, instead steps up onto the sidewalk to meet Cassian halfway -

and then she hears the gunshot.

She mistakes it for a clap of thunder.

The realization doesn't hit her until Cassian drops the umbrella and breaks into a run.

There's another gunshot, accompanied by the screech of metal being blown apart.

"No."

Her limbs unfreeze and she's halfway to the driver's side of the car when a phantom pair of arms yank her back down against the passenger side door. Her protests are strangled out by the sound of another gunshot, and another. 

Jyn's sense of self-preservation returns and she shoves Cassian off to shield herself. He does the same, curling against the car and covering his head.

The harrowing silence that follows is pierced by the the low drumbeat of rain pounding concrete and the sound of Cassian's breathing.

Over all of it, Jyn can feel the roar of her heart in her ears.

A single line of red forms a snaking path under the car into the storm drain.

"No," she gasps, staring at the blood trickling past her, burning it into her vision like the last moments of a shooting star. Numb from the rain and the shock, Jyn finds herself rising to her feet before Cassian can notice.

She sees the holes in her father's car before she sees the body.

"No!"

Jyn falls into a crouch, on her hands and knees, not caring that's she's practically wading in the street because she's soaked anyways and her father is _dying, dying - dead._

A pair of hands grip her shoulders.

"Come on," Cassian murmurs urgently into her ear, "-it's not safe for us out here." His hands slip to her arms, caught between the need to pull and the understanding of her grief. She can feel the scruff of his beard on her neck, but all she cares about is the soaking wet body lying in the middle of the road.

* * *

Her father is dead.

* * *

The navy blue umbrella hangs by a hook, dripping water on the already slippery tiles of the foyer. It's accompanied by Cassian's soaked coat, brown fabric turned black by dampness; and Jyn's jacket, limply fluttering in the artificial breeze of the heating system.

A towel is wrapped around her shoulders, but she does nothing to wipe the water out of her eyes or dry her hair. She doesn't care that her wet socks leave a trail from the entryway to Cassian's kitchen.

"This is your fault," she spits, damp clothes clinging to her skin.

He nods and looks away.


	2. go away

_If only,_ Jyn thinks bitterly. _If Bodhi hadn't found a lawyer, if his lawyer wasn't Cassian, if Cassian hadn't found her, if she hadn't met her father, if she hadn't told him, if he had refused -_

Galen Erso would still be alive.

Granted, she'd probably still despise him - but was it better to be loved or alive?

Jyn doesn't know.

* * *

SOME WEEKS EARLIER.

Jyn's startled awake by an unidentified brightness prickling at her eyelids. When she finally forces her eyes open she's treated to the brownish stain on her ceiling that she's forced herself not to think too hard about, highlighted in an ebbing white glow. She rolls to her side with a groan, sheets rustling around her, and traces the source of light back to her phone.

It's too early for her alarm.

She frowns, reaching for it groggily, and squints at the screen.

She's greeted by a message from an unknown number.

 _Wrong number, creditor, phone company, creep._ Options flit through her foggy mind, none of them pleasant.

Then the letters come into focus.

Jyn sits up and yanks her phone off the charger. Blinking at the painfully bright screen she fumbles for the switch to the lamp on her nightstand.

 _> I can help you get out of Wobani and clear your record. Legally. _  
_> Just say yes._

Finding her number in the large block print of her advertisements for freelance mechanic services wouldn't be difficult. Her lifeline to survival is the source of both money and leery pseudo suitors.

This could've been one of them.

Finding the matching nameplate reading Kestrel Dawn beside the intercom just past the entrance to Wobani Apartments wouldn't be much more difficult. Certainly a lot of effort for someone who probably hadn't changed out of their sweatpants in a week, but Jyn couldn't put it past the sleaziness of some people.

Making the connection between living in Wobani and Jyn absolutely hating her life? Not a stretch at all.

But the word record stares back at her in unassuming plain black text, and she knows this is different.

Not everyone stuck in the housing complex there had criminal history. Most were just unlucky enough to be trapped between having enough to afford rent, but not enough for security.

Nobody, nobody, knew about her criminal record. That was Jyn Erso, rebel teenager. That was Liana Hallik, a hungry stomach on the margins of society.

For all Jyn knew, and she was meticulous, Jyn, Liana, and Kestrel had nothing in common.

The unknown number stares back at her under the time. _5:42 AM._

Jyn sets the phone back down, turns off the light, and slides under her covers. She closes her eyes and tries to sleep, focusing on the darkness behind her eyelids.

 _Kestrel._  
_Her record._  
_Liana._  
_Jyn._  
_"Everything I do, I do for you."_

She tosses and turns in search of peace. It escapes her, and with a groan her eyes flutter open. She blinks rapidly, trying to make sense of the hazy green of the digital clock.

 _6:00 AM_ \- 5:58, actually, but her clock is stubbornly 2 minutes early.  
Jyn flips her pillow five more times before giving up.

She has nothing to lose. Her hand smacks the table, then the phone, and she lifts it to quickly enter a response.

_> yes._

She tosses is back, then prompt rolls back in her covers, and drifts to sleep.

 _Kestrel._  
_Liana._  
_Jyn._  
_"Come, child."_

She awakes to the garish sound of her alarm beeping.

_7:00 AM._

She rises, stretches and wonders if she's gotten a reply. Swinging her feet off her bed, her toes touch the slightly grimy carpet as she flicks her screen on.

_> Jedha Street Market. 6 PM._

* * *

  
The Jedha Street Market, or simply Jedha as it's known, is the only constant in Jyn's tumultuous life.  
She heads out early, hands shoved into the depths of her oversized jacket's pockets. A knife is carefully strapped to the inside of her knee high boots which might seem a little early in the season, but luckily for her fall's chill had already begun to stir in the air.

She's had enough practice with keeping her mind in check that no memories haunt her as her feet find solace in eking out the path through the open air market she's taken innumerable times since childhood.

Jyn closes her eyes to let her other senses take over. The chatter of customers in multiple languages. The sound of tiny boots hitting the ground as children chase each other, weaving between harried women and young couples. The sounds of shopkeepers bargaining with petulant customers, of cash registers popping open, the chimes of necklaces swaying in the wind -

Jyn opens her eyes and uncurls her fists.

She shifts her focus. The scent of fresh cooking fills her nostrils, cuisines from around the world wafting in the air, becoming one. She turns, hunting for a particular combination. Her lips curl upwards when she finds it, and she strides over to the familiar stall.

"Long time no see," the blind man at the counter remarks with a broad, deprecatory grin.

"Chirrut," she murmurs in surprise. "I thought you and Baze had shifted to a martial arts studio downtown."

"We did! Baze's sister has been sick for the past week, so we've come back to keep an eye on the shop. And now I'm thankful for it, because if she hadn't we wouldn't have had the chance to see you."

Jyn smiles, and rests her hands on the table.

"Usual order then? Medium spice?"

"Yep."

"To go?"

"Yep."

Chirrut turns to inform Baze of her order, and Jyn lets her eyes wander across the storefront. Like a majority of the shops in the open market, it had an storefront that emulated the stalls open to the elements, but had an entrance that led to a proper store. She could choose to eat in the few patio style seats in front, or go inside to the shelter of restaurant style seating.

Jyn always preferred takeout.

Chirrut calls the next customer forward, shooting a smile in her direction as she takes a seat at one of the benches. Within minutes, Baze materializes out of the door, arms laden with food, flipping the OPEN sign to WILL RETURN IN TEN MINUTES.

"Baze-" she begins and he raises a hand to shush her.

He hands a takeout container to her, and Jyn ducks her head to avoid the blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Thank you."

She returns to her seat with Baze, and a moment later Chirrut joins them.

She silently picks at her noodles while Chirrut fills the silence with his easy going chatter, something he must be used to after being married to Baze for all these years.

Jyn's scraping the bottom of her container when she feels her phone buzz in her pocket - the alarm informing her she had five minutes to six o'clock.

She also realizes her mystery person hadn't told her where in the market they were supposed to meet.

"You're nervous," Chirrut suddenly remarks, and Jyn's head jerks up. "What for?"

Baze meets her eyes with his own intent gaze, not pressing further but asking the same question.

She puffs out a breath.

"I'm supposed to meet someone."

The glint in Chirrut's eyes indicates he's gone off in the completely wrong direction. Jyn bites back a groan.

"Not a date."

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to," Jyn replies cooly, then glances to Baze. "I should get going - and I think your ten minutes are up." Indeed, customers had begun to loiter around the storefront. Chirrut nods, a satisfied smile gracing his face.

"We shall meet again, little sister," Baze says as they rise. Jyn mentally checks the location of her knife as Baze presses a bag of something that smells delicious into her palms.

"You didn't have to-" she begins, but Chirrut shakes his head as he gathers the discarded contents of their meal off the table.

"You need to eat."

She smiles at that. "Alright. I'll see you soon."

Baze nods and she steps away from the table, shuffling her bags.

She senses the impact coming before it happens but is unable to stop it. The man careens into her violently, hard enough anyone else her size would've lost their balance.

"Watch it," he snaps gruffly.

She shoots him an unapologetic look as she's jostled by the relentless stream of shoppers that sweep her away from him into the crowd. Jyn meanders past the storefronts, shrugging off the unpleasant growl of the stranger. She walks without sense of purpose, beginning to wonder if all this is a bad idea.

She pulls up the hood of her coat just as the grand clock in the center of the marketplace strikes six times.

Then her jacket begins to buzz.

She frowns. Hadn't she stuck her phone in her back pocket? Her hand plunges into her jacket pocket and fishes out an old Nokia phone.

The screen is lit with a single line of text.

_> Mint ice cream. See you soon._

  
Jyn blinks at the message, only moving to the side after feeling the heat of passerby grumbling about people on their phones. She shoves the mysterious cellphone back into the pocket, heading towards a water fountain located in a side alleyway.

Whoever she is here to meet had dropped the phone right into her pocket.

And she hadn't noticed.

Either her mystery person was good, or Jyn was losing her touch.

She leans against the wall, standing beside a child drinking from the fountain. She sighs out a breath, air slowly leaving her puffed cheeks. The child shoots her a glance as she steps away from the fountain.

Jyn gives the girl a small smile before crouching to sip some water, hoping to rid herself of the unease settling in her stomach.

* * *

Jyn quickly checks the time on her phone, squinting at the smudged screen.

_6:05._

She's standing in front of an ice cream shop - the only one in the market. She hadn't been here since a time she doesn't want to remember but little has changed save for the posters plastered across the front advertising the day's specials.

_\- What flavour, Stardust?_

There are two people in line in front of her, and another one behind. She doubts the little boy clutching the hand of an older woman is responsible for today's adventure, neither is the older lady who smiles when Jyn turns around to look at her. Her gaze then wanders to the shopkeeper and the creamy vanilla swirling out of the machine.

She orders a cup of mint ice cream, pays, and turns away from the counter to study her surroundings.

Shoppers continue to walk around, still the peak hours after the work day, nudging slowly towards sunset. There are families seated at tables, and couples together on benches. Jyn lets her gaze wander but seeks out those sitting alone. Her eyes are pulled to a man sitting alone at a bench. He's dressed a touch too warmly for the weather, a thick coat and a blue scarf around his neck. It's the cup of ice cream in his hand that draws her eye, and she swears she glimpses the bright artificial green.  
She makes her way over and drops her bags on the bench space between them. He glances up at her as she sits down, but she turns her attention to her own cup, digging into the ice cream with a small spoon.

She feels his gaze linger on her, interested in a dangerous way, but not the leery kind that would normally make her want to strike him with her fist.

"You like mint?" he asks. His eyes are warm, too warm, and at once she can see them sparkle and the hardness underneath them. Dark, pointed, with a casual front.

He's dangerous.

Carefully, she glances at the cup in his hand.

Mint.

"You still use a Nokia?" she asks.

His gaze turns away from her to study his half-eaten ice cream, as if the bits of chocolate chunks in it held the secrets of his future.

"They're handy. Hard to trace."

Jyn sighs, and stabs her spoon into her slowly melting ice cream.

"Did you text me for an ice cream date?" she snaps, a little louder than she'd have liked. She garners a few bemused glances from some onlookers, and inwardly wonders how the man had so quickly made her lose control.

 _This isn't a date,_ she mentally growls in their direction, the knife in her boot a cold reminder.

He looks at her then, and Jyn can't help but notice how piercing his gaze is. If it weren't for her own unfaltering resolve, she'd have felt nervous.

"What are you, a cop?" she questions softy, hand already inching to her bags.

"Worse," the man says, and scrapes the last of the bright green delicacy. "I'm a lawyer."

"I don't have the money to pay you."

"It's not for one of your old cases."

Jyn looks at him quizzically, face impassive but eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Look, I'd rather be straightforward. This is something new. Something bigger than just you and your life, bigger than mine." Looking grim, he sets the empty cup on the bench space between them, and unfolds a napkin.

Jyn stares.

"Well, I'm no hero, so you'll have to enlighten me on why you need my help."

The look on his face sends trepidation running down her spine.

"It's about your father," he says. "And you're the only one who can help us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the late update! This chapter has been sitting on my harddrive for months because I've been unable to come up with the rest of the fic. I'm just posting what I have, and who knows maybe a comment will push me in the right direction :)


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